Jan Baptist Weenix

This atmospheric study of Roman ruins belongs to a group of stylistically similar drawings by Weenix, which he made during the course of his stay in Italy in 1642-46. One signed example is in the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich,¹ where the form of the signature (Gio Batta / Wenix) reflects the Italianized form of his name which the artist adopted by the end of his stay in Italy. Other drawings in a sketchbook that he used on the way to Italy and shortly after his arrival are signed more simply J Weenix,² so it is possible that the initials on the verso of the present sheet are indeed an autograph signature.

Schatborn³ has also pointed out that surprisingly few of the Dutch and Flemish artists working in Italy at this time chose the medium of chalk for their landscape drawings. One exception, however, was Cornelis van Poelenburch, whose drawings Weenix may perhaps have seen in Utrecht, before he himself went to Italy.

1. P. Schatborn, Drawn to Warmth, 17th-century Dutch artists in Italy, exhib. cat., Amsterdam 2001, p. 114, fig. H

2. Op.cit., p. 111

3. Op.cit., p. 114